The local agriculture sector faces many challenges: limited access to information, poor implementation policies and disjointed land administration agencies. Even so, many stakeholders of all kinds face these problems head on, creating solutions that benefit their environment. Problem-solving in the agriculture sector should be encouraged! The practice of using one’s limited resources to move forward with projects and enterprises should definitely be propagated, and social media can play a crucial role in this.

Five enterprises have come together to contribute towards moving the agriculture sector forward. They are the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) from Trinidad and Tobago,Tech4agri, W.H.Y Farm, Lukesmith T.V, andEbites. Together with social media expert Peter Casier, we designed a workshop for young professionals, specifically for those who are working in the agriculture sector, to develop their online presence.Continue reading →

On Sunday 29th December I departedTrinidad and Tobagoto attend the Global Landscapes Forum’s Youth in Landscapes Initiativein Paris carded for 1st – 7th December 2015. This event was my second international travel opportunity but my first trip to Paris, France. On arrival, I secured my luggage and immediately sort to acquaint myself with the atmosphere of the conference, making preparations to contribute as much as possible to the team. While most attendees were solely focused on networking, I was dual minded; both networking and satisfying my foodie cravings by searching for the best French restaurants. I was keenly interested in the composition of the everyday French breakfast table. At the end of the conference, I had three extra days of stay in the country. Continue reading →

I have submitted an application to theYouth Agripreneur Project (YAP). For those of you not familiar with the “YAP” project it is a pilot program which targets young agricultural entrepreneurs or “agripreneurs”.

My proposal is titled ‘Ebites’: More than a blog—becoming a business aims to promote the use of ICTs in the agricultural sector and will place a specific emphasis on livestock issues, youth leadership, rural cooperation and policy development and advocacy for the inclusion of women in agriculture. Part of the dream for my business venture is to change the way people perceive agriculture by making more success stories available to readers and viewers.Continue reading →

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This year the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) is celebrating their 10th anniversary by having their members, partners and supporters share their testimonials on being a Ypardian. Watch the video below to hear about my experience with Ypard.

The Youth in Landscapes Initiative received a total of 150 applications from 60 countries, with 75 applications from women and 75 applications from men. Each young innovator applicant was asked to submit a video presentation describing their proposal on how to solve real-world land use challenges. However, in the end, the selection committee chose 29 women and 21 men from 31 countries. Join us in issuing a warm welcome to our 50 youth innovators who will tackle the 5 landscape challenges in Paris from 1-4 December http://bit.ly/1MhcUOMContinue reading →

Cattle seek refuge from the searing heat among shrubbery in Union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Credit: Kenton X. Chance/IPS

In the climate community we are all aware that developing countries feel the effect of climate change sometimes more heavily than developed countries. But what of Small Island developing states (SIDS)? Due to the miniscule stature of these nations we have little effect on the wider world and as a result we are forgotten. Apologies for being blunt but this is likely true. However what will the leaders of the wider world have to say in 2015 as the climate change issue is now heavily, albeit ironically affecting agriculture, our one and only food source?

A rundown of effects

“The most obvious felt consequence of climate change has been a rise in temperatures affecting poultry, dairy and pig industries and to a lesser extent on small ruminants,” explains Mr. Norman Gibson, Science Officer at the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI) headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago. With regards to the poultry sector, adverse effects include higher mortality and morbidity (that is reduced productivity) though that industry’s structure is based entirely on imported inputs and production processes. Therefore the privately run Caribbean Poultry Association is primed to commit the necessary resources to combat the problem. On the other hand for the dairy sector, effects include reduced feed conversion and milk production.Continue reading →

Given the continuing absence of the Opposition PNM from our Parliament and the sporadic coverage in the media, it is important that the main points of these new proposals be exposed –

Application date – formerly, persons who had illegally occupied State Lands up to January 1998 were entitled to be regularised – the new law would move that date to June 2014. That means that more persons will be regularised;

The numbers – There are serious questions arising about the numbers to be regularised in this process – the PM…

Are you familiar with things like “Twitter”, “Facebook”, “blogging”, “vlogging”, “podcasting”,…? Join us!
Or if those words sound like gibberish to you, well… you are welcome too!

Experienced social media users, professionals, volunteers, journalists as well as novices are equally welcome in the social media team of the XIV World Forestry Congress (#Forests2015) held in Durban (South Africa), on 7-11 Sept 2015…

We are assembling a large team of social media volunteers to support the conference. The volunteers can participate either online, or at the event itself.

Our blog will share Art4Agriculture’s journey to share stories and improve the understanding of modern farming practices so urban and rural communities can work together to ensure the health, wealth and happiness of all Australians.